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When Velma woke up it was nearly 8pm. The lay-in had helped her recover a little from the stress of yesterday, but still she had a lot on her mind. After drinking Bernard dry, Velma had become the bat as she dropped from the Presidential Suite’s balcony and flown home unseen. No one knew she was there. No one suspected her. She was safe. But that didn’t make her feel any better.
She put the kettle on and switched on the radio – it was time for the local news. When the kettle boiled she half-filled a mug with cold water before topping up from the kettle. She liked her drinks blood-warm.
The newsreader’s very serious voice spoke of the sudden death of Mr Bernard Viyal CBE, who was the latest victim of a new pathogen.
“Mr Viyal,” he explained, “for anyone who is just joining us, was the CEO of Inigo Bio Tech, and he succumbed last night to the new bloodless pathogen, as it’s currently known. Apparently this is a shock to all who knew him because there were no apparent symptoms beforehand.”
Velma switched off the radio and left the kitchen. She sat in a comfortable chair in the living room, clutched her warm mug and closed her eyes. But the silence didn’t help. Unable to slow the rotation of her own negative thoughts, she switched on her other radio which was tuned to a national station.
“Should we be worried?” asked the host, “Is there any idea what’s causing this? Might we all be vulnerable?”
“There’s no need to panic,” a woman’s voice responded. “We are talking to Mr Viyal’s family to find out if he had a pre-existing condition.”
Velma recognised that voice.
“Would you advise people to go to their GPs? Get checked out?”
“As I said, there is no need to panic. We don’t know enough at this stage to be certain it’s even contagious.”
It was the voice from the phone last night. The woman Bernard had been talking to.
“But there have been other cases recently haven’t there?” the interviewer persisted. “Four men in the same house died of it last week? That points to contagious doesn’t it? Surely.”
“Panic will only make things worse,” the woman spoke firmly. “News reports should be factual, not speculative. Please be respons-“
“Oh, sorry about that, we seem to have lost the Health Minister. We’re trying to get her back so while we’re waiting, let’s have some music – here’s The Magnetic Fields with ‘92 Weird Diseases‘. Enjoy.”
Velma switched off the radio. It did no good to listen to it. She knew what she had to do. She had to protect the lab animals. The innocents. She had to come clean. But how could she do that without putting herself at risk?
The sound of her phone was a welcome distraction from her anxiety. It was Muriel.
“Hey Murry,”
“Vel! Andy’s trying to get a doctor’s appointment coz he’s worried he might have caught bloodless from Sammy coz he lived with that guy who died of it!”
“Muriel,” Velma replied calmly and patiently, “was Andy actually worried? Or did you make him worry?”
“He’s my friend Velma, I couldn’t say nothing could I? I had to warn him!”
“A couple of days ago you said it was rubbish! Scaremongering you said.”
“Yeah but that was before I saw the Health Minister on the telly. She said it was something they were concerned about and they were looking into it. Looking into it Velma! They wouldn’t look into it if it was nothing would they?”
Velma sighed. “You were right the first time, Muriel. It’s not a disease.” She paused before adding, “But it’s not nothing either.”
Muriel was silent for a moment. “What do you mean?” she began quietly, “What aren’t you telling me Velma?” getting louder after every pause. “What do you know?!”
What Velma knew was that she might lose her closest friends if she told them the truth. She also knew that she had no choice. “Can you come to mine?” she asked, “and ask Andy to come too.”
“Velma – tell me now. You’re scaring me.”
“Don’t be scared. You don’t need to be scared,” Velma told her gently, “but I need to see you face to face to tell you this. Please.”
***
Come back tomorrow when chapter 5 continues, unless you’d rather read it now 😉
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